Burr Ridge Official Misses Another Meeting

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge Trustee Joe Snyder, who once harshly criticized a colleague for absenteeism, missed yet another meeting Monday.

Snyder, an insurance agent, showed up at a meeting on May 13 for the first time in nearly seven months, or 203 days to be exact. Monday's meeting was the first since then.

At different times, Mayor Gary Grasso said Snyder was missing meetings because he was away on business. No one indicated that Snyder was gone for health or family reasons.

At Monday's meeting, Grasso did not explain Snyder's absence.

Patch tracks attendance of elected officials in six towns – Hinsdale, La Grange, Western Springs, Elmhurst, Darien and Burr Ridge – and three school boards – Elmhurst District 205, Lyons Township High School and Hinsdale High School District 86.

Together, the bodies consist of 72 elected officials. Snyder is last in attendance.

Publicly, the Burr Ridge Village Board has been silent about Snyder's absenteeism. Before the 2021 election, several trustees highlighted then-Trustee Zach Mottl's missed meetings. This was before Mottl lost to Grasso's allies.

Over the last year, Snyder has missed 40 percent of meetings and has connected remotely another 27 percent of the time.

His absence rate is higher than that of Mottl, whom Snyder criticized for missing 26 percent of meetings. Snyder called that a "failing grade."

Snyder is more popular than Mottl was with the other trustees.

Snyder owns a home in a gated subdivision south of Fort Myers, Florida. He was in the Sunshine State at least part of the time during his months away.

Snyder has not returned messages for comment.